Twenty days is the shortest known gap between COVID-19 infections in a single patient, new research from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases found.

At the CDC's request, the Justice Department on April 20 appealed a ruling from a federal judge in Florida that voided the nation's mask mandate for travelers taking public transportation, including airplanes and trains. 

A small specialty hospital that operates within DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit is pausing admissions due to an outbreak of the deadly, drug-resistant fungus Candida auris, the Detroit Free Press reported April 20.

Many health experts expressed concern over how the CDC's authority might be diluted in future outbreaks after a federal judge in Florida struck down the nation's mask mandate for public transportation April 18. 

Scientists and health officials are investigating upticks in severe hepatitis cases among young children in the U.S. and Europe, according to Science.

A sublineage of the BA.2 omicron subvariant — BA.2.12.1 — is gaining traction in the U.S., with the latest CDC variant proportion estimates showing the strain now accounts for 19 percent of the nation's COVID-19 cases. 

The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum selected Prime Healthcare Services and Kaiser Permanente Northern California as recipients of their John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards in two categories. 

New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery has appointed Paul Coyne, DNP, APRN, senior vice president and chief nurse executive.

A study involving physician surveys and Medicare claims data found no consistent relationship between burnout and patient outcomes, according to findings published in the April edition of Health Affairs.

The CDC on April 19 launched a new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics aimed at improving response measures during disease outbreaks.

A federal judge in Florida on April 18 voided the nation's mask mandate on public transportation, including airplanes, trains, buses and airports. The move comes despite the CDC's recent decision to extend the rule through at least May 3. 

The U.S. nursing workforce fell by more than 100,000 in 2021, primarily driven by nurses under age 35 leaving hospital-based jobs, according to an analysis published April 13 in Health Affairs.

Health systems are weighing and making decisions for face masks to become optional for many individuals in certain spaces. 

Here are four nurses who have made headlines for their efforts on and off the job  since April 5:

Vaccinated people with a history of certain psychiatric conditions may have a higher chance of contracting breakthrough COVID-19, according to a study published April 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Flu activity in the U.S. increased for the week ending April 9, with the highest test positivity levels in central and south-central states, according to the CDC's latest FluView report. 

Growing levels of vaccine hesitancy may be complicating efforts to catch children up on routine vaccinations, health experts told Politico April 18.

Health officials believe four Michigan residents infected with a coronavirus strain linked to minks are the first known animal to-human COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the Detroit Free Press reported April 17. 

Health officials have not observed a change in severity among people infected with the omicron "sister variants" BA.4 and BA.5, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, COVID-19 technical lead for the World Health Organization, said during an April 13 media briefing.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising nationwide for the first time since January as the omicron subvariant BA.2 accounts for 85.9 percent of U.S. cases. Health experts say it is still unclear whether BA.2 will cause a COVD-19 surge that strains hospitals, but forecasting from the CDC and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic provides some insight into what to expect in the coming weeks.